looking at an ebay listing..new member, need advice!

[flamingo]

Hi,

I have been in love with Airstreams forever and may be ready to take the plunge. My tastes run to the new look and modern interiors, but want an older vintage model. The "perfect" one for me may be on ebay at the moment: 1965 Globetrotter redone by a designer for her husband as a surprise, I guess it was not a good surprise as she is selling it unused ( after renovation).
My questions are:

1. Is solar power a good fit for Airstreams?
2. Is it hard to add air conditioning as i live in hot hot FL
3. Is there a member out there with a truck who would be willing to have a fun trip and bring this to me in Sarasota, FL??? Will pay expenses and ask for a non-smoker. The unit is located in near Sonoma in CA in a town called Marshall.
4. Anyone have time to go and look at this unit for me?
5. Will also offer as a bonus upon arrival a week in a nice resort on Siesta Key FL, beach rated No 2 in the world!!

PS: I read the very interesting article on renovations vs price on either this website or vintageairstream.com and understand the price factor..many thanks to the author!!!

The owner sent me additional photos of some mechanical features so if you send me your email will forward.

Sorry my first ever post is so long ....

I have been to two rallies in recent years to walk around ..one in VT and one recently in Sarasota...Airstreamers are so nice!!! Thanks, Susan

[funkill]

There are lots of discussions wrt solar and adding A/C on this forum. I don't know the answers as I don't read those threads (not ready for solar, and have A/C). Under the advice of another member, I use google to search - getting a better filter. Just type the subject and follow it with a space, site:www.airforums.com. You'll get to the respective threads pretty easy.

I know there's a list on here of folks who will help you with inspections. I think it's on the homepage. Look around for it! Wish I knew it existed before I bought my AS.

If I actually enjoyed driving, I'd offer to go get her for you - for a trip to Siesta Key!!! Nice offer - hope you find someone to take you up on it.

Let us know if you get this one! laura

[Nuvite-F]

Hi, Susan,

Welcome to the forums, and hope you can get the Airstream of your dreams!

Here are my thoughts on this trailer. Remember, free advice is worth what you pay for it!

A mid 60's GT is a great size trailer for a single person or couple traveling, but not full timing.

I'm not fond of eBay as a place to buy or sell a trailer because you don't have time to really investigate it before the sale closes.

Although beautifully restored, this one is already pricey ($16,000 at this writing) and the seller's reserve has not been met. So we don't yet know what it will cost (or if it will sell).

If you haven't checked out the AirForums classified ads, please do. There are plenty of nice vintage Airstreams for sale.

I would be a little concerned about the weight. Back in the 60's Airstream went to a lot of trouble to keep the trailer weight down and I doubt they took that kind of effort in the beautiful new cherry interior--and hardwood is heavy. Ditto the extra batteries. This is a single-axle trailer. Maybe the original axle--I don't see anything about it having been replaced.

Originally Posted by flamingo

Hi,
1. Is solar power a good fit for Airstreams?

Solar power is nice for boondocking. Can't tell from the ad what the solar cell capacity is, though.

2. Is it hard to add air conditioning as I live in hot hot FL

It's a fairly major project.

3. Is there a member out there with a truck who would be willing to have a fun trip and bring this to me in Sarasota, FL??? Will pay expenses and ask for a non-smoker. The unit is located in near Sonoma in CA in a town called Marshall.

There are a lot of RV movers who do this for a living--shouldn't be a problem.

4. Anyone have time to go and look at this unit for me?

Hopefully a forum member in the neighborhood can do that for you. There are lots of them in California. The biggest problem is the auction closes Sunday, just 4 days from now.

Good luck, and if this doesn't turn out to be your dream trailer, there are others out there.

Hope to see you down the road,
Nuvi

[Yhottys]

Just our two cents worth. . .

It looks like the renovation has been well thought out and it's beautifully appointed. She's pretty all right!

The folks here are right. The axles should be investigated before it gets towed to Florida otherwise you run the risk of damaging not only the interior but the frame as well.

Happy and safe journeys,

[Nuvite-F]

Hi, Susan,

I have been watching this trailer on eBay and see that the auction closed unsold today around $17,000 with the reserve not met. This squares with my feeling that eBay is not a very good place to sell or buy a trailer since buyers don't have time to adequately evaluate a faraway trailer in one week.

Since you contacted the seller during the auction, maybe you can get some idea of what she is willing to sell it for and if or when she plans to list it again.

Now that you have time, Airforums has a directory of members willing to inspect trailers in various states. To access the directory go to the Portal page and find the "Inspectors" search window in the right-hand column. There are around 150 of them in California. From there I would sit down with a map of California and figure out 2 or 3 not too far from the trailer and email them. Hopefully you can get a reasonable independent opinion of the plusses and minuses of this trailer.

And, as I said, if this trailer turns out not to be the one, there are hundreds of them on AirForums Classifieds right now.

Good luck,
Nuvi

[flamingo]

Thanks to all the kind members of this forum who quickly responded to my plea about the renovated Globetrotter on e-bay this past week. The listing expired today (June 7) with the resevre not met. I think it went up to something like $17,000 and change.

Funkill, Yhottys and Nuvite-F offered valuable advice and I listened. Based on what you said, I wrote the seller asking a question I never would have known without this forum...."is the axle original"...I also asked if I could contact the person storing the unit for the owner, in a previous e-mail she said it was a former Airstream officer in CA ...to ask more questions since the unit was in this woman's possession.

I never heard from this owner again...but it is her loss as I was willing to pay a good price. I lost the Globetrotter but found that Airstreamers are a great group and I hope sometime in the future to meet you in person...thanks so much...Susan in Sarasota